Striking a Syrian Pose?

Hezbollah officials present a Syrian envoy with an Israeli rifle. Right to left: Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah political advisor Hussein Khalil, chief of Syrian troops in Lebanon Gen. Hajjar, and Gen. Rustom Ghazali.

Beirut

THE LEBANESE militia-cum-political party Hezbollah has been called of a lot of things in its day. To Lebanon's poorest citizens, the Shiite "Party of God" is commendable for its practice of stepping in to provide social services whenever Lebanon's ever-fumbling government drops the ball. (The party's roadside donation boxes are emblazoned with a pair of cupped hands reminiscent of the Allstate logo.) Alternatively, the Bush administration says Hezbollah is a terrorist organization with "American blood on its hands."

Meanwhile, in southern Lebanon, Hezbollah runs an unsurpassed political machine, having swept all of that region's 23 parliamentary seats during the last election (in collaboration with its fellow Shiite party, Amal). And Hezbollah offers yet another perspective, boasting that it is the most effective means of "resistance" against "the Israeli enemy." Indeed, throughout the region, it is credited with forcing Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Lebanon back in 2000, though the issue of the still-occupied Shebaa farms remains a sticking point--and something of a raison d'être for Hezbollah. The party also says it is an authentically Lebanese political movement fighting for domestic reform and a government that serves the people, "not vice versa."

ONE THING Hezbollah has never been accused of, however, is being a particularly festive bunch. So it raised local eyebrows when, just before the Syrian pullout from Lebanon earlier this year, Hezbollah proved it could throw farewell bashes with the best of them.

In April, Hezbollah feted Syria's then-intelligence chief--and de facto proconsul--in Lebanon, Rustom Ghazali. Mere weeks after the March 14 "Cedar Revolution" demonstration that, in tandem with international pressure, compelled Syria's exit from the country, Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah showed no compunction in giving Ghazali a warm send-off. What's more, Nasrallah stood for a photo op, in which he presented the retreating Syrian envoy with an Israeli rifle seized by Hezbollah fighters. By calling attention both to Hezbollah's militancy and its cozy relations with foreign governments, the photo was a perfect representation of all the characteristics that make many Lebanese wary of the group.

Interest in this photo has been kept afloat by U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis's report on the assassination of Rafik Hariri, in which he singled out Ghazali for giving statements "not compatible" with all other testimonies. Also included in Mehlis's report was the text of a phone call intercept between Ghazali and an unnamed "prominent Lebanese official" given the alias "Mr. X," with whom Ghazali plotted the best way to arrange Hariri's political downfall.

Since losing its Syrian protector in Lebanon, Hezbollah has been quick to seek out new political cover by joining a cabinet for the first time in its history. Would the party's newfound emphasis on its Lebanese bona fides prompt any contrition over the Nasrallah/Ghazali photo?

ON NOVEMBER 9, I visited Hezbollah's offices in Haret Hreik, part of Beirut's dahiyeh, a knotted chain of sprawling suburbs just south of the capital. While sitting underneath movie-poster sized portraits of Ayatollah Khomeini and Iran's current supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, I spoke with Ghaleb Abu Zeinab, the Hezbollah politburo member in charge of outreach to non-Shiite communities in Lebanon.

Neither a sayyed nor a sheikh himself, Abu Zeinab, in his modest slacks-shirt-blazer attire, recalled another Iranian figure: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Like the Iranian president, Abu Zeinab abjures the necktie, following the logic of a hadith made prominent by Khomeini, in which Muslims are encouraged not to dress as non-Muslims.